Members of the newly-formed Kilusang KonTRAPOrk tear up copies of Special Allotment Release Order during a protest rally at UP Diliman on Tuesday.  Photo By Mike De Juan
Members of the newly-formed Kilusang KonTRAPOrk tear up copies of Special Allotment Release Order during a protest rally at UP Diliman on Tuesday.
Photo By Mike De Juan

A coalition of representatives from cause oriented, grassroots and militant groups was formed on Tuesday as they converged at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman grounds in Quezon City to call for the abolition of the pork barrel and the ouster of corrupt government officials.

The Kilusang KonTRAPOrk’s demand for good governance was highlighted by the signing of a declaration and statement and symbolic tearing of the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO). The group plans to hold a noise barrage (Kalampag Kontra Pork) every Friday as part of their non-stop protest action against all forms of corruption.

The 15-group coalition demanded the abolition of all kinds of pork barrel, audit and investigation of all government offices, recasting of the budget for social and development services, jailing of corrupt government officials and enacting of a transparent and accountable budget.

During their initial rally, members of the group also decried the alleged impending eviction and relocation of the government-run Philippine Children’s Medical Center which is the only tertiary hospital that provides adequate health care and services to children at affordable costs.

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Rustico Macatangay, one of the representatives of militant groups, said that at least 70,000 children, some of them cancer-stricken, will be affected if the PCMC is demolished to give way for other “less worthy projects’’.

Despite assurances from Malacañang, PCMC Executive Director Dr. Julius Lecciones said that the hospital faces the threat of eviction and relocation, eliciting an outcry of protests against the government.